


On the Nature of Authority and Trust

by MirrorandImage



Category: RWBY
Genre: Disaster Qrow Branwen, Gen, It's all Tai's fault, Mysterious Headmaster is Mysterious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25940833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorandImage/pseuds/MirrorandImage
Summary: [Complete] Qrow's first day of class at Beacon leads to a prank being pulled on him and him being dragged to the headmaster's office. After that... things get weird.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	On the Nature of Authority and Trust

Before anything else is talked about it must first be understood: this was all Taiyang Xiao Long's fault.

Known each other for all of eight hours before he decided to make an impression by pulling a prank. Qrow overslept, see, and Tai in his infinite wisdom let him, leaving out the uniform with a note simply saying, "Mandatory." Qrow glared at it but put it on, darted through the halls and wondering how this was supposed to be comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. He walked into his first class with some guy named Port and there at the desks are all the students.

Only the girls were wearing the damn skirts, and Tai was there in the back with the most shit-eating grin on his face and Qrow was going to _kill him six ways_ as the guy gave a hearty thumbs up.

Everyone was staring, Qrow was wondering how the _hell_ he was going to live this down before he realized that - instead of some kind of immediate reprimand, the Port guy was staring just as much.

… An _authority figure_ was flustered that Qrow was wearing a skirt. This wasn't a chief balling him out at the first hint of being out of line, this wasn't a raid leader ready to pounce on him for screwing up - he wasn't being beaten within an inch of his life, he wasn't even being yelled at and told he should have died years ago. The guy was _speechless_ , and Qrow realized for the first time in his life he had _power_.

Qrow kept his head high and moved to find an empty desk. Port was still staring, and when Qrow found a chair by his sister he looked to the teacher and _smirked_. "What the matter, professor?" he asked, lifting a leg and propping it on the desk. More than a few girls angled their head to try and see better and _hot damn_ this was going to be fun. "Like what you see?"

All he got was sputtered nonsense and a weak-ass mention of dress code.

Tai didn't need to die horribly - this was _brilliant_. He looked back a few rows and his new best friend had both hands covering his mouth to prevent making noise. Qrow offered a rakish grin and finally returned the thumbs up. The next four years were going to be _glorious_.

For the rest of the day Qrow stayed in that skirt, Tai gleefully calling it a _kilt_ , whatever that was, and enjoyed the show as every single teacher tried to react without reacting. Nobody raised a fist, nobody cursed or shouted at him, a few of the girl teachers patently avoided eye contact and Qrow noted that for later - that kind of power he _did_ know how to use - and not a single one of them were able to reprimand him other than a light scolding. It was turning into an art, making sure he was the last one to walk into class, making a show of strutting his stuff, swishing the thing to show off more leg once he figured out how.

Always he demanded: "What's the matter? Like what you see?"

Bravado had never been rewarded before, and Qrow gloried in the reactions he was getting. Tai was absolutely beside himself - in between classes he was laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face and he told Qrow unequivocally that "You are the _best thing_ that's ever happened!" and Qrow decided he would die for this guy. Summer alternated from giggling madly and wondering when the other shoe was going to drop, and Raven was of course the pessimist, saying that he couldn't get away with this forever, but Qrow calmly told her to _shut the hell up_ , he was having fun for the first time in his life and he was going to enjoy it for as long as possible.

The entire school was agape at his display, every walk across the courtyard brought stares, but they weren't the dark stares of waiting for him to get in trouble, they weren't whispers of his bad luck and his disasters - girls walked up and gave him their numbers. Guys were cheering him for being so bold, he was _popular_ , he had _power_ , and he'd never had a high quite like this before.

In the courtyard he saw one of the girl teachers who'd been so uncomfortable when he'd walked into class, and he thrilled at the idea of making her even more uncomfortable. "Hey professor!" he called, swaying his hips. "I had a question about earlier!"

She froze, eyes doubling in size, and took an involuntary step back. She was _afraid_ of him, and that had never happened to Qrow before - usually it was the opposite, and if she was afraid he was going to _use it_.

"What's the matter, professor?" he asked, giving a leering look, dropping his voice to his darker, more predatory raiding voice. "Like what you see?"

"Yes, very much, thank you," said a masculine voice behind him.

Qrow turned, the girl professor quickly darting away, and behind him was the guy who shot him off a cliff yesterday. Tall, silver hair, cane, and calmly sipping a mug of something.

"In fact," he said, finishing his sip. "I like it so much I think we should talk. Please come with me."

… wasn't this guy the headmaster or something? Fuuuuuuuuuuu-

He turned quickly to his sister, but she had her arms crossed and gave a flat _what did you expect_ look. Summer was worrying her hands and Tai was suddenly _very_ interested in a book that he was reading. Upside down.

_He was going to strangle him with this damned skirt that piece of-_

"If you don't mind, Mr. Branwen, I'm not a man who likes waiting."

* * *

The headmaster didn't say anything the entire walk through the academy, Qrow slouched and surly. The high of having power was gone now, and he was mentally prepping himself for the inevitable fall from grace. What track was this guy going to take? He cut too fine a figure for a beating, and Qrow tried to consider that in his favor, but that didn't really mean anything. Beatings only hurt the body. Vulgarity? Shaming? Would he stand out in the courtyard naked as punishment? Would he be expelled, leaving Raven to do all the work on her own? _That_ thought caused him real fear, he wouldn't survive returning to the tribe like that. He'd have to suck up to this guy, probably, and Qrow _hated_ sucking up to people, hated saving face, hated taking the blame.

They entered an elevator, and the headmaster calmly sipped - Qrow didn't smell the caffeine of coffee, so what was it? The guy had no expression other than a pleasant smile, Qrow couldn't get a read on the guy, and usually that meant the worst. The smilers were the scariest in the tribe, and Qrow was left suddenly wondering how bloody he was going to get.

"Ah, good, it's here," the man said once the elevator dinged and the doors opened. He moved forward with long strides and Qrow was left to follow, eyes doubling in size at the glass, the gears, the low echo of ticking that gave the floor a soft vibration. The clock tower? Who put their office in the middle of a clock tower?

He turned back to the headmaster, watching him move to a desk that was just as gear-fetish as the office, picking up something and turning around.

"Here you are," he said brightly. "I'm so sorry for the mix-up."

What…? Qrow looked at the thing that the headmaster was offering.

… Pants. What…?

Qrow's eyes bounced from the pants to the headmaster and back to the pants.

"Fear not," the guy said brightly, "Mr. Xiao Long will be spoken to about making impressions, and I apologize on his behalf for any embarrassment you may have suffered. Here, now you can get changed."

The article of clothing was held out more insistently, and Qrow took it slowly, unable to understand what was happening. This was the headmaster - the leader of the tribe - he was asserting his authori-Oh. He was one of _those_. Qrow bit his lip - he'd avoided it in the tribe, knew to steer away, but here he'd walked right into one.

"Want me to strip for you?" he asked, resigned.

The headmaster blinked, the polite smile still intact, but he tilted his head to the side. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

Qrow sighed and started to unbutton his kilt. "You said you liked what you saw, right?" This was gonna suck.

"Yes, I-oh. _Oh_. Oh, dear." The headmaster held up a hand in a stopping gesture, silently ordering Qrow to pause, and he did so. "I seem to have misrepresented myself," he said, and his face was doing all sorts of things now. The polite smile was gone, the brow was furrowed slightly, and the mouth was moving around a frown. The weirdest thing were the eyes, Qrow didn't have a label for it.

"I can only imagine what you must be thinking right now," he said, and his words were quick - not clipped but rushed. "When you asked if Professor Beige liked… I did not mean… I'm terribly sorry for the misunderstanding. I was not clear in what I meant."

Qrow stared, stuck on one word: _sorry_. Nobody said sorry in the tribe, not to each other and certainly not to _him_ , the bad luck charm, the curse that nobody wanted. He didn't know how to react to an apology, didn't know what he was supposed to say, what face to make, how to act. What did you do with a sorry?

"You don't believe me," the guy said, and he finally made a face Qrow _did_ recognize: sadness. What the hell did this guy have to be sad about? "I suppose that's natural. Allow me to reassure you: I brought you up here so you would have privacy in changing, but I realize now that you might not trust me to act appropriately. Allow me reassure you."

The headmaster reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a square of green - was that silk? - cloth and flipped it open, refolding it and tying it around- _what the hell_?

"There," he said, eyes perfectly covered. "Now you can change with no worry in regards to maintaining your purity. Tell me when it's safe."

"... what?" Qrow asked, utterly poleaxed.

"Let me know when you're finished changing," the headmaster said. He took the cane he was holding and swept it behind him until it clicked against the fancy desk. A hand reached out to the sound and the headmaster traced his way around the desk to take a seat - even spinning the chair around so his back was to Qrow.

… What?

… _What_? What the hell was going on? What kind of authority figure _left himself vulnerable_ like that? What kind of idiot blindfolded himself and then _turned his back_ on a subordinate? What kind of idiot just… just… Qrow looked around the room. "Are there cameras or something?"

"No," the guy said, and there was the bright tone again. Qrow couldn't see it but he knew the polite smile was back. "One of the privileges of being in my position is that I don't need to monitor myself."

"You can do what you want, then?" Qrow asked, tugging at the skirt but still weirded out by what was happening.

"No," was the reply. "I very rarely get to do what I want, but sometimes I can do what I need."

"That doesn't make sense," Qrow said, pulling up the pants. "You're the top dog here."

"And with that position comes a great deal of responsibility," the headmaster said. Qrow could just see one leg crossed over the other, bobbing up and down. "In case you were unaware I have some five hundred students to guide, to teach, to train so that they can be the very best version of themselves in the hopes that they can protect the lives of those around them. To that end, I must be what the students need me to be, not what I am."

"And what are you?" Qrow asked, buckling his belt.

"... many things, I suppose. The one that is perhaps most important is: human."

"So... what? You pretend to be inhuman?" Qrow couldn't understand this guy, and that was dangerous. If he couldn't understand him, he couldn't predict him, and if he couldn't predict him, then there was a risk of him getting caught. That was the last thing he wanted.

"Oh, I don't have to pretend that," the headmaster said.

"Huh? But you just said-"

"I know what I said," the headmaster said, Qrow moved round the desk, saw the polite smile was gone again, only a thoughtful frown. The guy was still blindfolded, even though he must have heard Qrow finish changing - if nothing else he heard Qrow move to get a better look at him. "Have you finished changing?" he asked.

"What if I told you no?" Qrow asked.

The guy shrugged. "Then I wait until you are ready," he said.

"Seriously?" Qrow asked, frowning and leaning forward. "I could do anything to you right now. What makes you think I won't?"

"Because I trust you."

The words buried into Qrow's head so suddenly and so deeply he was left speechless, words that _not even his own sister_ had said to him just casually handed out by this fancy dressed suit. He gulped - hopefully not audibly - and he stood very still, wanting to wait it out. Minutes ticked by, Qrow was waiting for the guy to get sick of the game, to be irritated that Qrow was pushing so far, to snap at him, to do _anything_ other than sit there patiently, leg bobbing up and down, and wait. Qrow leaned in, made faces, hell, he _mooned_ the guy, but the blindfold never came off, there wasn't even any kind of comment even though the headmaster could hear what Qrow was doing. In the end, it was Qrow who lost patience.

"How can you do that?" he asked, standing right in front of the headmaster. "How can you just sit there and wait until I tell you to take it off?"

"Like I said," the guy replied, "I trust you. You had asked in the courtyard if Professor Beige liked what she saw. And I can confess I did like what I saw - but not the way you interpreted it. That was my fault, and I apologize again. What I saw was a student who had a prank played on him, and instead of being embarrassed, flustered, facing ridicule or reprimand, I saw a student who turned it into an advantage, someone who took a moment of bad luck and turned it into something positive. Very few people have that talent, Mr. Branwen, and I confess you did it with panache. Of _course_ I liked what I saw, you will fit in well here."

"... so you want me to show my legs off more often?"

The headmaster smiled - not the polite one, this one was more real, good-humored. He was still blindfolded. "I'm not certain the campus would survive a second experience," he said, and was that a light tease in his voice? "More specifically, I would love to see you keep people on their toes, remind them that the world outside of the kingdoms is more than what they learn in school. Keep them guessing, and show them how to take a negative and turn it to a positive. I'm certain that's something you've had to do many, many times."

That triggered all kinds of alarms in Qrow's head, and he stiffened in spite of the fact that the guy couldn't see him. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I mean," the headmaster said, "that in the courtyard I saw someone take bad luck and make it something positive. On the way here I saw someone who has had very few things work in their favor. I suspect you distrust authority, Mr. Branwen. I don't know if, as an authority figure, I have any chance in changing that, but I would like to try. The thing you need most is trust, and that is something I am more than willing to give."

He smiled again, gesturing to the blindfold.

Too many thoughts were going on in Qrow's head - it was like this guy knew his Semblance but didn't care. It was like he knew where Qrow came from and wanted to… help? It was like the guy had literally seen it all - but who on all of Remnant could say that? Everything about this guy screamed mystery: he didn't act like a normal guy. He was _soft_ , and that should have made him a target. He was _stupid_ , but he was handing out his trust anyway. He was _blindfolded_ but Qrow still hadn't done anything with the power he had over the headmaster. Thoughts of rifling through his desk for documents, thoughts of spiriting him away for Raven to interrogate, thoughts of making him suck Qrow's-he didn't do any of the things he was supposed to be doing with someone _this pliant_ in his hands. Hell, if this were going on in the courtyard right now Qrow would be putting on the show of a lifetime, but here… here where it mattered… something about this guy was staying his hand, and he couldn't figure out why.

"What makes you think you know me?" Qrow asked, leaning forward, inches away from the headmaster's head.

"I don't," was the reply. "That's why it's called trust."

Qrow ripped the blindfold off. Whiskey. The eyes looked like whiskey in firelight, with flecks of gold.

"Does this mean it's safe now?" the headmaster asked.

"It's never safe," Qrow answered, still inches from his face.

And a soft, sad smile was his reply. "I understand," he said simply. He took a deep breath through his nose, chest expanding and then exhaling. "Well, let's get you back to class, then. I've taken up enough of your time."

The headmaster moved to get up, but Qrow didn't budge, kept his position above the guy, curious to see what he'd do.

"Mr. Branwen," he said, "I don't mind you pushing boundaries, but some of them must be respected if you want to stay in this school. I am asking, politely, for you to let me get up."

"And what happens if I don't?"

"Then I have to assert my authority, and you and I both know that right now that will ruin any chances of us having a positive relationship. There are boundaries here, Qrow. You can push at them, help me redefine them, but you cannot cross them. When you do, I will have to use my authority as headmaster, and gods know you might physically be able to handle it, but I would very much like for you to be able to emotionally handle it, as well. That's why I brought you up here. That's why I'm not - yet - disciplining you for breaking the dress code or sexually harassing my teachers. That's why I am giving you my trust. The question you must ask yourself now is twofold: Do you trust me? Of course not, not with the life that you've lived. But would you break the trust someone has given to you? That I don't know, and that is why I'm asking: please let me get up."

And damn it all, he did.

He pulled back, stepped back, and let the headmaster get up and lead him back to class. No one had ever _given_ him trust before, the headmaster was right about that. The closest was Raven, but she just expected it. No one else in the tribe had trusted him, and this guy handed it out to basically a stranger, and it was a gift so precious that Qrow didn't want to break it.

The guy _knew_ it, the bastard, and even then, there was no smug smirk, no knowing look, not even a pleased smile. The headmaster just walked with him to his next class, let him find a seat and said a few words to the teacher. The authority figure.

"Mr. Xiao Long," he said just as Qrow was settled. "I think the two of us need to talk."

Tai groaned but got up. He sent a questioning look to Qrow, but he could only shrug his shoulders. He had no idea how to explain what had happened in the headmaster's office.

But he did know one thing.

The next few years were going to be really interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> With our much longer fic all done and written, we churned out some one shots, too, before school starts and we have to figure out if it's safe to teach students. Here's one of them. Not much to say on the fic, really, for once it speaks for itself.


End file.
